Struthers still glowin’, goin’ strong in ‘Hello, Dolly!’

By BRENDA SHOFFNER / Daily News

Published: Sunday, November 17, 2013 at 12:18 PM.

Producing a Broadway show requires a tremendous amount of effort and coordination even in the comfort of the same theater every night. Taking it on the road for months at a time – often for only one night in each venue — raises the task to a Herculean level.

Actress Sally Struthers stars in the current touring Broadway production of “Hello, Dolly!” and she is the first to say the real heroes of the show are the crew.

“The biggest challenge is for our beloved crew,” Struthers said in a Nov. 1 telephone interview. “Their job is to tear down and pack up the entire set, load it into four huge trucks, get to the next town and put it all back together again. Sometimes they are there until 3 in the morning.

“We (actors) all get to go back to our hotel room and take a bubble bath. Then the next show, we just waltz out onto the stage where everything is familiar to us because it’s the set we’re used to. The crew has done all of the hard work, working with the wonderful local theaters we play in.”

Struthers and her crew will bring “Hello, Dolly!” to the Mattie Kelly Arts Center in Niceville for one performance at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 25.

The two-time Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner stars as the vivacious matchmaker, Dolly Gallagher Levi, who goes to Yonkers, N.Y., to find a match for the “well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire,” Horace Vandergelder.

The popular musical score features such classic songs as “It Only Takes a Moment,” “Before the Parade Passes By” and, of course, “Hello, Dolly!”

Best known for her role as Gloria in the television series “All in the Family” and as Babette on “Gilmore Girls,” Struthers’ four-decade career also includes such films as “Five Easy Pieces” and “The Getaway”; featured roles in Broadway productions of “Grease” and “Annie,” where she played Miss Hannigan; many television movies and voice work in animated series.

“I’m so lucky,” she said. “I’ve never stopped working. I guess it might be because I became part of everyone’s family on television. People just welcome me into their lives.”

Struthers’ effervescent personality radiates through occasional static of the call she is making on a bus heading from Appleton, Wis., to Milwaukee, where “Hello, Dolly!” was scheduled for two nights.

“My mother would always say, ‘Sally was born with funny,’ and I’ve always had a lot of energy,” she said. “I’m 66 years old and touring with a bunch of 20-year-olds who have to run to keep up with me!”

While the iconic character of Dolly has been portrayed by such actresses as Ginger Rogers, Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey and Ethel Merman on stage, Struthers doesn’t worry too much about her predecessors.

“I adore Carol Channing, but I would never dream of trying to do an impression of her as Dolly,” she said. “The wonderful thing about Dolly is that she’s kind of actress proof. You can be tall or short or whatever.

“I can’t help it being my own character because it’s my voice, my comic timing. I do me playing Dolly Gallagher Levi.”

Struthers has high praise for the entire cast saying she is surrounded by “triple threats, who can sing, dance and act.”

Because 2014 is the 50th anniversary of when “Hello, Dolly!” made its multi-Tony Award-winning premiere on Broadway in 1964, Struthers said the cast and crew “feel duty bound to make it as wonderful a show as we can.”

“We want it to be an homage to Thornton Wilder, who wrote the play ‘The Matchmaker’ that ‘Hello, Dolly!’ is based on and to Jerry Herman, who wrote the music and lyrics to turn it into a musical.”

Struthers’ favorite musical numbers in the show include:

“It Only Takes a Moment” — “I’m not even in that one, but when Cornelius and Mrs. Molloy sing to each other, it’s so beautiful.”

“So Long Dearie” — “I do it with a straw hat and cane. It’s a razzamatazz number that’s just so much fun!”

And, of course, the title song “Hello, Dolly!” — “When I re-enter the restaurant and every man is looking up at me, I can see the adoration in their eyes. It’s so emotional that I sometimes tear up. It makes me feel like a school girl.”

Tickets for this timeless masterpiece are on sale for $45 each or $40 for groups of 10 or more tickets. Tickets are available online at mattiekellyartscenter.org or in-person or by phone from the box office at 729-6000.

Box office hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 6-7:30 p.m. the day of the show. At-the-door seats are the same price as advance tickets. There is a $2 per ticket processing fee on all ticket sales.

The center is on the Niceville campus of Northwest Florida State College at 100 College Blvd.

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Producing a Broadway show requires a tremendous amount of effort and coordination even in the comfort of the same theater every night. Taking it on the road for months at a time – often for only one night in each venue — raises the task to a Herculean level.

Actress Sally Struthers stars in the current touring Broadway production of “Hello, Dolly!” and she is the first to say the real heroes of the show are the crew.

“The biggest challenge is for our beloved crew,” Struthers said in a Nov. 1 telephone interview. “Their job is to tear down and pack up the entire set, load it into four huge trucks, get to the next town and put it all back together again. Sometimes they are there until 3 in the morning.

“We (actors) all get to go back to our hotel room and take a bubble bath. Then the next show, we just waltz out onto the stage where everything is familiar to us because it’s the set we’re used to. The crew has done all of the hard work, working with the wonderful local theaters we play in.”

Struthers and her crew will bring “Hello, Dolly!” to the Mattie Kelly Arts Center in Niceville for one performance at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 25.

The two-time Emmy and Golden Globe Award winner stars as the vivacious matchmaker, Dolly Gallagher Levi, who goes to Yonkers, N.Y., to find a match for the “well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire,” Horace Vandergelder.

The popular musical score features such classic songs as “It Only Takes a Moment,” “Before the Parade Passes By” and, of course, “Hello, Dolly!”

Best known for her role as Gloria in the television series “All in the Family” and as Babette on “Gilmore Girls,” Struthers’ four-decade career also includes such films as “Five Easy Pieces” and “The Getaway”; featured roles in Broadway productions of “Grease” and “Annie,” where she played Miss Hannigan; many television movies and voice work in animated series.

“I’m so lucky,” she said. “I’ve never stopped working. I guess it might be because I became part of everyone’s family on television. People just welcome me into their lives.”

Struthers’ effervescent personality radiates through occasional static of the call she is making on a bus heading from Appleton, Wis., to Milwaukee, where “Hello, Dolly!” was scheduled for two nights.

“My mother would always say, ‘Sally was born with funny,’ and I’ve always had a lot of energy,” she said. “I’m 66 years old and touring with a bunch of 20-year-olds who have to run to keep up with me!”

While the iconic character of Dolly has been portrayed by such actresses as Ginger Rogers, Carol Channing, Pearl Bailey and Ethel Merman on stage, Struthers doesn’t worry too much about her predecessors.

“I adore Carol Channing, but I would never dream of trying to do an impression of her as Dolly,” she said. “The wonderful thing about Dolly is that she’s kind of actress proof. You can be tall or short or whatever.

“I can’t help it being my own character because it’s my voice, my comic timing. I do me playing Dolly Gallagher Levi.”

Struthers has high praise for the entire cast saying she is surrounded by “triple threats, who can sing, dance and act.”

Because 2014 is the 50th anniversary of when “Hello, Dolly!” made its multi-Tony Award-winning premiere on Broadway in 1964, Struthers said the cast and crew “feel duty bound to make it as wonderful a show as we can.”

“We want it to be an homage to Thornton Wilder, who wrote the play ‘The Matchmaker’ that ‘Hello, Dolly!’ is based on and to Jerry Herman, who wrote the music and lyrics to turn it into a musical.”

Struthers’ favorite musical numbers in the show include:

“It Only Takes a Moment” — “I’m not even in that one, but when Cornelius and Mrs. Molloy sing to each other, it’s so beautiful.”

“So Long Dearie” — “I do it with a straw hat and cane. It’s a razzamatazz number that’s just so much fun!”

And, of course, the title song “Hello, Dolly!” — “When I re-enter the restaurant and every man is looking up at me, I can see the adoration in their eyes. It’s so emotional that I sometimes tear up. It makes me feel like a school girl.”

Tickets for this timeless masterpiece are on sale for $45 each or $40 for groups of 10 or more tickets. Tickets are available online at mattiekellyartscenter.org or in-person or by phone from the box office at 729-6000.

Box office hours are 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday-Friday and 6-7:30 p.m. the day of the show. At-the-door seats are the same price as advance tickets. There is a $2 per ticket processing fee on all ticket sales.

The center is on the Niceville campus of Northwest Florida State College at 100 College Blvd.